On October 12, 2017, Tyler Clementi Foundation board member, Mitchell Gold, lead singer of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds, and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah met to discuss the suicide epidemic facing LGBT youth in Utah and across America. In the meeting, Senator Hatch, the top Mormon legislator in the country, said he doesn’t believe being gay is sin.

The Tyler Clementi Foundation congratulates Dan Reynolds, lead singer of Imagine Dragons, on the release of his documentary, Believer, which premiered January 20th at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Through showing the harm caused by anti-LGBTQ religious teachings and bullying, the documentary will change the hearts and minds of Mormons across Utah. The Tyler Clementi Foundation recognizes Dan Reynolds as an Upstander, a leader using his platform to save lives.

“When I met with Senator Orrin Hatch and Dan Reynolds back in October 2017 to discuss the rising LGBTQ youth suicide rates in Utah, I was impressed to hear him state that being gay is not a sin,” said Mitchell Gold, Tyler Clementi Foundation board member. “At the meeting, which was recorded for the documentary Believer, we discussed the importance of the leadership of the Mormon church in combatting Utah’s suicide epidemic. Mormon Church President Russell Nelson needs to understand that if the church does not stop bullying and rejecting its LGBTQ children, these preventable, tragic deaths will continue.”

“As the mother of Tyler Clementi, the most upsetting thing to me was that when Tyler came out, he felt that he could not be Christian and gay,” added Jane Clementi, co-founder of the Tyler Clementi Foundation. “Youth must know that they are not broken or worthless or separated from God because of who God created them to love. We cannot keep preaching this way.”